


Other Duties as Assigned

by tonks42



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-08
Updated: 2014-03-08
Packaged: 2018-01-15 01:07:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1285534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonks42/pseuds/tonks42
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nothing in Kurt’s life was turning out the way he’d expected it. He certainly hadn’t planned to end up at Kent State for college instead of New York. Kurt had a plan to fix all that. A job as an RA would allow him to save up plenty of money for a semester in New York, as long as he could manage to survive the antics of his residents, his friends, and that freshman he just can’t get out of his head.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Other Duties as Assigned

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to thank Homemadedarkmark (a.k.a. actuallykevintran) for adding her wonderful artwork to the story. Thanks also goes to tchrgleek for beta-ing this story.
> 
> Warning - Mentions of homophobia

"You are way too into this," Santana informed me as she sprawled out across my bed.

"Why are you even here?" I replied, grabbing another piece of cardstock. I chose a pair of scissors from my scrapbooking set. It might be that none of the guys moving onto my floor would appreciate the variety of edging patterns and shapes I was cutting their door cards into, but it made me happy. In my mind, that was a good enough reason to take the time to do this.

"I didn't have anything or anyone better to do." She strained to reach across the gap between my bed and desk to grab a copy of Vogue. "It's boring with no one here. There aren't even any good parties."

"I'm sorry that Kent State is disappointing you today," I said with a roll of the eyes to match the lack of sincerity in my tone. "I know that it is all our job to keep you busy with parties and special events."

Santana leaned across again to shove my arm. "Shut up, Hummel." She rolled her eyes right back at me. "Not all of us can be so entertained by paper art. God, that is so stupid."

"If you think it's so horrible, you're free to go." I pointed straight toward the door with my edging scissors. "I was hoping that you'd help me tape up some of these signs, but if you have better things, or people, to do, don't let me hold you back."

"Could there be alcohol involved?" She flipped through the magazine idly. "That might make it more worthwhile."

"You're asking the newly minted RA if he will provide you, an underage person, with alcohol? Hell, I'm not even twenty-one." I pointed out as I grabbed my marker. I used my best cursive to start writing names across the ovals and rectangles and trapezoids I'd created.

"Jeez. You've never been all that much fun, Hummel, but this is going to make you even more of a downer, isn't it?" She sneered over. "Fine. I'll go make my own fun. You have fun sniffing your Sharpie."

"Good night, Santana. I'm sure I'll see you very soon." I shook my head as she let the door bang shut behind her. Some people never change.

Some things did though, even if not for the better. I'd applied to colleges across the country with good fashion programs. I'd planned on moving to New York right out of high school. That was where I was convinced that I'd fit in. Financial aid hadn't materialized for that, though. Parsons and FIT had both accepted me, but my dad made too much money for me to receive the amount of financial aid I'd need to actually be able to afford to attend. Instead, I'd ended up here, at Kent State. Surprisingly enough, it had one of the best ranked fashion programs in the country. My classes were great. I was learning a lot. Still living in Ohio? That was the big downside in all of this. Someday I'd make it out of the state and into the big city. I even had a master plan to get there.. Step one was this new job. Kent State was more affordable than the other schools that accepted me, but it still cost a lot. Saving money by not having to pay room and board this year would allow me the semester in New York that I wanted so much. I just had to make this job work.

* * *

 

"Welcome to Johnson Hall." I greeted, forcing a smile onto my face once again. Today was freshman move in day, and I had a whole crop of young men and women to check in. The biggest difference, I imagined, between this and the upperclassman move in day later this week was probably the way the parents hovered over their child. That and the lost looks on everyone's faces.

Getting an RA slot in an honors hall was a great stroke of luck. I had even managed to get an assignment on the same floor I lived on last year. I suppose that there weren't that many students in the honors college that really applied for RA positions. And probably less than that who had the necessary social skills to make it work.

Case in point the next student to check in. I swear that he would fit every geek stereotype known to man. He was wearing a pair of thick glasses and pants that were pulled up way too high. This guy had to be trying to look like a complete nerd, right? No one could look that much like Steve Urkel on accident. I'd be willing to take bets on the likelihood that this particular freshman has pocket protectors packed into one of his bags.

"I'm Kurt. I'll be one of your RAs this year. Can I get your name?" I gave him a friendly, reassuring look. Everything would be alright. Don't be terrified that I'm in charge. Please don't see how hard I'm judging you in my head.

"Simon Wallace." He replied.

I flipped through the list. "Room 212. Let me grab your keys and have you sign them out." I dug through the neatly labeled envelopes to pull out one of the two labeled with his room number. "Alright, sign this form, and you are free to go move in. There's an elevator at the end of the hallway for anything heavy you have to carry up. It looks like you're here first, so feel free to chose a side and start to unpack."

He nodded. "Thank you." Short and to the point again. Maybe that was his style, or maybe he was as bad at hiding his ‘first time away at college’ nerves as I’d been last year.

"We have a hall meeting at seven, followed by a floor meeting. Please make sure you're on time." I was really hoping everyone would be on time. I wanted to get these meetings over with as quickly as possible.

New arrivals continued to trickle through all morning. It was slow going, but at least I had my phone there to amuse myself on. I sent texts to Rachel in New York and played a few epic games of solitaire. I was well on my way to becoming a solitaire master when I had to pocket my phone and deal with another new arrival. I looked up at the sound of footsteps and didn't even have to fake my smile this time. This freshman was cute. His look was nerdy, but put together in a much better way than the boy I'd seen earlier. He had hair slicked back with too much gel, but warm eyes that more than made up for it. He was dressed in a nerdy preppy combo that worked well for him. Khakis, plaid boat shoes, a polo shirt, and a bowtie. I don't remember the last time I've seen a college student wearing a bowtie on a day to day basis, especially on move in day. I gave him definite props for the commitment of moving boxes and duffel bags dressed in that outfit.

"Hello!" I greeted with unfeigned cheerfulness. Cute new boy might end up being straight, but that doesn't mean I can't make an otherwise boring day better by enjoying the view. "I'm Kurt. I'm one of the RAs. Can I help you get checked in?"

"Yes. It should be under the As. Anderson." He paused to glance back to where a petite Asian woman was poking her head in the door. "Blaine Anderson," he added, turning his attention back to me.

"Right at the top." I said, starting to comb through the pile of keys. "Only Anderson on the list. You're in Room 212, on my floor." Lucky me. I wasn't going to let myself perv enough to think about the fact that we'd be sharing a bathroom. This wasn’t the time to think about the possibility that I’d someday run into him in a towel. "If you sign that form, I can give you your keys."

"Thank you," Blaine said politely. He picked up the pen to sign the form I'd pointed to. "Do you know if my roommate is here yet?"

I glanced back at the list for a moment, trying to remember. Oh yeah. The nerd. "He is. You'll probably find him upstairs. There's an elevator at the end of the hall if you want it. We have a hall meeting at 7 followed by a floor meeting." By now I could practically give that speech in my sleep.

"I'll look forward to seeing you again tonight, then." He smiled at me and then turned to go. I tried not to read too much into his reply. I had enough of a distraction watching him head out. If I thought his eyes were his best feature I was wrong. His ass was amazing.

I have clearly been abstinent for far too long. Or I've been spending way too much time around Santana. Maybe she was starting to rub off on me.

* * *

 

I hopped up on a table off to the side, watching the freshmen assemble. Our hall director had prepared a pile of handouts, but mostly I was just here to look good. Or to wave and let people know who I was. When we broke off into floors, that's when I'd have to step in and run some thrilling icebreakers.

Wes leaned on the table beside me, looking over the crowd of new students. "We have too many freshmen this year." He moaned. "Freshmen are difficult. Give me a good, independent upperclassmen any day. They don't whine over their mothers or fight with randomly assigned roommates over a freaking speck of dust."

"Well, hello to you, too," I noted shaking my head. "I thought we had a mix? At least this isn't one of the freshmen dorms."

"I'd quit," Wes said, matter of factly.

"No you wouldn't. You love telling people what to do too much," I teased. "Hey, you survived _my_ freshman year. This group will be fine."

"Don't curse yourself." Wes warned. "But you're right. I'm sure I'll endure."

I glanced over as the cute boy from earlier walked in beside his roommate. I could sense tension there already, at least in the tightness of the nerd's shoulders. "Uh-oh. That looks like it might be trouble." I whispered.

Wes glanced over and then surprised me when he grinned instead of commiserating. "Blaine!" He called out. The nerd boy continued on without even glancing off to see where his roommate was going, but the cute one detoured to head over toward us with a grin.

"You know him?" I leaned in to whisper to Wes.

"We went to the same high school." Wes said as the cute boy stepped over a girl’s legs to get to us. "Blaine, I missed running into you earlier."

"We have plenty of time," Blaine said with a smile on his face. "How have you been, Wes?"

"Good, good. I'm so glad you're living in our dorm." Wes seemed to have forgotten his earlier complaints about freshmen. "Have you met Kurt?"

I offered out my hand with a smile. "We met when you checked in, right?"

Blaine took my hand with a firm grip. If you could tell anything by a person's handshake, this was a good one. "We did. It's nice to meet you again, Kurt. You're the RA for my floor, right?"

"I am, which is probably better luck than getting stuck with Wes. He's quite the stickler for rules," I smirked at Wes at that line.

"Rules were made for a reason." Blaine had what I thought was a quite good impression of Wes' officious leader tone.

I tried to hold in laughter, at least I'd claim I did. In reality, it bubbled up out of me pretty quickly.

"Well, they are." Wes crossed his arms over his chest. "You two are horrible people."

"Sure. And what would you do without us?" I asked leaning over to pat Wes on the shoulder. "Oh. I suppose this is our cue to be good role models and listen. It's starting."

"Of course we should be. I would consider nothing less." Wes said, in exactly the tone Blaine had joked about.

 

* * *

 

I sank down cross legged on the floor of the meeting and study room that my floor in the dorm housed. I decided that I was going to avoid all thought of the questionable cleanliness of the carpet in here. Hopefully they'd cleaned it over the summer, after all. "Welcome! I'm glad to see all of you here."

There were ten other people sitting around me. The whole floor housed around 40, so I had a feeling that I'd lucked out on having a lower percentage of freshmen than Wes. There were six women and four men, including both Simon and Blaine.

"We'll increase in number greatly when the rest of the floor moves in, but the hall staff decided that it would be a good experience to have each group of freshmen bond with their floor mates before the numbers go up. These are people that you're likely to see not only around the hall, but also in your freshman Honors Seminars." I made the speech, feeling rather powerful to have so many people so close in age to me listening so closely to every word I said. It was heady stuff.

"Before we do anything else, let's go around the circle and tell everyone our major, if you've decided, and where you're from. I'll start. I'm Kurt. I'm a sophomore here. My major is fashion design and merchandising, and I came here from Lima, Ohio." I turned to look over to the woman beside me. "Your turn. Go."

"I'm Jessica, but most people call me Jess." She said, pushing her long brown hair back out of her face. She had a mousy, quiet look to her, and I made a mental note to keep an eye out and make sure she was doing well. "I'm majoring in Chemistry, and I'm from Indianapolis." She gave me a quick look, checking in to make sure she'd said everything alright. I nodded my head, giving her what I hoped was an encouraging smile. I could already tell that this was going to be exhausting, having to be so personable all the time.

"Thanks Jess." I glanced next at Simon. He was dressed no less like he was trying to be a nerd tonight. He'd even gone as far as to add a pocket protector. (Too bad I didn't have anyone to hold that bet with.) That style had to be on purpose. The people I knew who dressed in casually geeky ways were more likely to be in a Star Wars t-shirt and jeans.

"I'm Simon." He said, pushing up his glasses. "I'm a computer science major, and I'm from Cleveland."

I forced myself to smile at him. "Great. Nice to meet you again, Simon." I glanced at his roommate. "You're up."

"I'm Blaine." He gave me a quick, charming smile. Well, I'd like to think it was aimed at me. Realistically, it was probably for the whole group. He'd added a cardigan, I noticed, against the chill the air conditioning could cause, even in the summer. "I'm a theater major, but I'm considering a double major or a minor, maybe in English or education. Or Photography. Anyway, I haven't decided on that. I'm from the Columbus area."

We continued around the circle finishing all the greetings before I reached behind me to pull out a bag of M and Ms and a smaller one of Skittles. Wes had suggested doing this with toilet paper, but that seemed so crude. Besides, even if M and Ms aren't the best chocolate in the world, at least they're chocolate. "Take as many as you'd like and pass the bag around. If there's anyone who doesn't like chocolate let me know and you can have the Skittles instead." I passed the bag off to Jess and then remembered to add. "Oh! And don't take more than a handful." I didn't want someone to have a pile of hundred in front of them. I wasn't that cruel, even if it might end up being kind of funny.

Once the bag had been returned to me, I poured a few out into my hand and tucked the bag away. "Alright, here's how the game works. For each M and M you took, you have to tell the group one thing about you. It can be anything you want. I'll go first to demonstrate." I looked over to see Blaine looking down in dismay at his twenty or so M and M’s. Alright, it really was funny.

I shifted one M and M from hand to hand with each fact I shared. It helped that I knew the game well, so I'd only taken a handful. "I'm a sophomore. I don't have any siblings." I wasn't even going to consider bringing up Finn. Icebreakers with the freshmen seemed like a bad time to be fighting back tears over my stepbrother's death a few months before. "I sew a lot of my own clothes. I also love flash sales and a good consignment store. I was in glee club in high school. We won a National Championship my senior year." I hesitated, trying to think up two more good facts. "I once joined my high school's football team as the kicker. I made the winning kick at my first and only game." I popped the last M and M into my mouth instead of my other hand. "Who wants to go next?"

"I'll get it over with." Blaine spoke up. "I'm sorry to all of you that I have so many." He glanced at his large handful again and followed my lead, although he put his finished ones into a pile on his lap. "I have one sibling. My older brother's name is Cooper. He lives in L.A. My mother is from the Philippines. One of my dream vacations is to go visit Manila someday. My dream location for theater would be Broadway. I love to sing. I went to an all-boys high school. Wes from the third floor went there, too. In high school I was in an acapella singing group. We competed in show choir competitions. We never made it to Nationals. I'm kind of jealous of Kurt." He paused in his rambling list of facts to look down at the four remaining M and Ms in his hand. "I love the color red. I collect antique cameras. I like creating arts and crafts project. Um..." I could see Blaine blank out on his last one. After a long moment of awkward silence he finally came up with, "I've always wanted a kitten or a puppy, but I've never had any pets."

 

* * *

 

The first day of classes rolled around quickly. The speed of life picked up quite a bit after the upperclassmen arrived. I'd spent a whole evening consoling a homesick Jess and even found time for a trip to the student bookstore to pick up the two books I hadn't been able to order off Amazon.

My first class was a nine o'clock one, unfortunately. I preferred as many afternoon classes as possible, especially on Mondays, but this was one I'd been excited for. It would have been worth getting up for this even if it had been offered at eight. A whole class in fashion writing that even counted as an English elective? Right up my alley. Maybe someday I'd decide on a career writing for Vogue and this class could be my starting point.

I took the time to make sure my first day of class outfit was impeccable. I was a fashion major after all. We were judged on such things. Or maybe I just judged everyone else on such things and they never even noticed what I had on. Doubtful, though. I'd have believed that of a science major, but not a fashion one. I'd finally decided on a tight, off-white, short-sleeved shirt and a pinstriped vest over a pair of skinny jeans. Simple and easy to work in, but stylish enough to make me happy. I couldn't wait for the weather to cool off a little bit so that I could break out my underbed storage box full of sweaters.

I made a stop at the nearest dining hall for breakfast. It was the most important meal of the day, and I'd heard on good authority that there was going be French toast today. My source was correct, which made me quite happy. I had a tray full of French toast covered in strawberries and whipped cream as well as some bacon by the time I stepped into the dining room. I looked around at all the empty tables searching for a familiar face. I spotted one and kept on looking. I wasn't awake enough yet for Santana. Oh look. Some of my freshmen. I decided that I should go see how they were doing. It was only my duty as their RA. It was like being an older brother or something. No. Not a brother. That would make certain thoughts that traveled frequently through my head far too incestuous.

"Morning!" I greeted, sliding my tray down onto an open spot at the table carefully, not wanting to jar my mug of coffee. "You don't mind if I join you, do you?"

"Not at all." Blaine piped up. "There's plenty of room." He slid his tray over slightly to demonstrate. "Jess and I were just talking about how surprised we are not to see this place more full."

"It'll be more packed at dinner tonight,” I said. "Right now, anyone who doesn't have an early class on Monday is still asleep, and anyone with an 8 o'clock is already in class. Welcome to college. Sleep in when you get the chance."

"Sound like good advice." Jess spoke up with a soft voice.

"Sleeping in is the best thing you can do in college. Well, besides going to class and turning in all your assignments and studying for tests and all the things I'm supposed to be telling you that you need to do since I'm an RA and therefore forced to become a good role model." I cracked a smile as I dipped my fork into the whipped cream, licking it off the strawberry I'd speared. I smirked over when I caught the look on Blaine's face. Maybe Mr. Dapper and Well Dressed did play for my team.

"I'll take all of the advice I can get." Blaine replied after he'd cleared his throat. "So, you mentioned the other night that you were in show choir, and I never got to ask about it."

"I was." I said. "It was some of the best and most ridiculous experiences of my high school years."

"Which one? If you don't mind answering. I don't want to be pushy." Blaine turned those gorgeous hazel eyes over on me, and I had to try not to melt. Seriously, it was unfair to be able to do that this early in the morning.

"You're not being pushy at all." I said. "You're just fine. And I was a member of the New Directions, why?"

"I was a Warbler!" Blaine leaned forward with a grin. "That's so awesome. We actually competed against each other, didn't we?"

"And we beat you. Twice." I said with a smirk before I sat back and studied Blaine. If I imagined him in a blazer and tie instead of a sweater vest and polo shirt he looked an awful lot like their front man. "You have a great voice, if I remember right."

"Thank you!" He beamed over at the compliment. "I hope it'll end up being good enough." He glanced down at his watch. "I should get going pretty soon. Do you know the best way to get from here to Satterfield Hall? Of course my nine o'clock class would have to be all the way across campus."

"Do you have your schedule or a map on you? Because that’s actually pretty close to here. It’s not going to be as long of a walk as you think.” I could help out my Freshman enough to keep them from getting lost, at least. It was all a part of the job.

* * *

 

After I finished classes that afternoon, I propped my door open. I didn't really have homework to speak of yet, so I propped my sketchbook up in my lap and started to draw, putting down on paper an idea for an outfit that had been running through my mind all day.

As my residents started to wander back down the hall, I called out greetings to anyone who didn't seem to be in the middle of something. Several freshmen stopped by long enough to say hello.

I waved to Simon, setting my pencil down on my desk. "Afternoon! How did the first day of class go?"

"It was satisfactory." He replied, stopping to look at me. "For a first day."

"Yeah, I know. Today's all a repetition of syllabi and sometimes activities to get to know each other. It'll get more interesting." I propped my feet up on the edge of my desk as I eyed the freshman. "You alright? You look like something's bothering you."

"It's fine." He hesitated for a moment before he added. "How long did it take you to start to like your roommate?"

"Oh. My roommate and I last year just tolerated each other, honestly. We got along, which was good, because we lived in a small space together, but we aren't and never will be friends." I shrugged. "It's not always bad that way. Why? Are you and Blaine not clicking?"

Simon shook his head. "He's just so, um, different."

"Well, you'll have your classes to make friends in. And other guys around the hall. It'll work out." I hoped. I really didn't want to deal with the fall out if it didn't. I sat up straighter as an idea came to me. "Tonight there's a big activities fair happening in the student union. Joining clubs full of people with the same interests is one of the best ways to make friends at college." I pointed out, even if I risked making myself sound a little bit too much like a college brochure.

"That sounds like a good idea. Thanks, Kurt."

I nodded sagely. See? I could do this job. I might just have to describe this whole conversation to Wes later, just to prove that to him.

I picked my sketchbook back up, adding details to the look I'd been drafting. This just might be good enough to warrant a trip to the fabric store. One of the best parts of being an RA, other than getting to save money by living here free, was that I got a double room all to myself. Plenty of room to use the other desk to set up my sewing machine.

More footsteps wandered down the hallway, and I turned my attention up to wave. "Afternoon!"

It was Blaine, looking rather less enthusiastic than he had at eight o'clock. "Oh, Kurt. Hi."

"Not a good first day of class?" I asked, setting my sketchbook aside again.

"It was alright. I just - have you ever had a professor that you could barely understand? Like their accent is really heavy?" Blaine asked.

I nodded my head. "My biology teacher last semester. Thankfully most of what was in the lectures was already in my textbook. You're already having trouble?"

Blaine nodded. "My dad convinced me that I should take Calculus instead of an easier math elective. I mean, Dalton gave us a good math background, but how am I supposed to do well if I can't understand what he's saying?"

"It's early enough to drop it. Pick up a different class." I suggested. "Or find someone who took it already who could tutor you on anything you miss out on. Maybe see if Wes took it?"

"That sounds like good advice. Thanks." Blaine's smile returned. "I might have to talk to my mom. See what she thinks I should do."

I nodded at that. "Sounds reasonable. Are you going to the activities fair tonight?"

"The what?"

"It's in the student union. All the clubs and organizations will have tables. Go. Find at least one club to join. Fastest way to make friends."

"Thanks, Kurt. I'll make sure that I go check it out." Blaine waved and wandered off toward his own dorm room as two seniors wandered by talking about writing thesis statements and things I didn't even want to think about this early in a school year. I turned my eyes back down to the sketch, flipping to the next page to start to work out details on those pants. I definitely wanted to make those. Much better use of time this early in the semester than worrying about papers that weren't due for a month.

* * *

I settled back into a seat behind our finished booth. "There. PRIDE Kent officially has a completed booth."

"And it looks so very gay, Hummel. I knew I could trust you to rainbow the thing up." Santana commented as she leaned against it. "I brought the candy. Skittles, right?"

"Taste the Rainbow." I drawled. This whole thing was a little bit ridiculous, in my opinion. I still wasn't sure how Santana had roped me into working this booth, let alone helping to set it up. I was technically a member of the club, sure, but I wasn't involved to the extent that Santana was. After all, I wasn't nearly as interested in the potential for hook ups as Santana was, either.

"Exactly. It's cute, right?" Santana danced around the table to straighten a pile of fliers for our first meeting. "I mean, we want to do a good job welcoming all the baby gays to college and shit, right?"

"Right. Although it might be a little bit better if you don't curse at them." I didn't even try to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. That was one of the things Santana was best for. I didn't have temper my words around her. She'd just fire right back and not take offense.

"Right. Okay so we have a rainbow table cloth and rainbow candy and even a rainbow of fliers. Do you think it's too much?"

"Calm yourself down." I ordered dryly. "Who the hell are you trying to impress here anyway?" I raised my eyebrows at her. "It's just a group of new students looking for clubs. Most of the ones who would want to join ours already know that they want to. We're not exactly an interest group that people just up and decide to join on a whim. 'Gee! I love Skittles. I think I'll decide to be gay.'" I joked, letting the full force of my sarcasm flood the impression.

Santana laughed and sank down into the folding chair beside mine. "Wow, it's good to see that you haven't become all uppity and goody two shoes in your new role, Kurt."

"Yes. Because I am now the enforcer of all campus rules. Because I broke so many before." I rolled my eyes. "I can enforce campus rules and be my witty self at the same time. It's allowed."

"Witty? Isn't that pushing it a bit far?" Santana looked up. "Ooh. Looks like we're ready just in time. Here come the herds of fresh meat."

"Does anyone else have the urge to yell, first years this way?" I asked, but I straightened up in my seat. I remembered all too well how scary it had been to approach this table last year. I wasn't in high school anymore, but I was still in Ohio. I'd been so scared that joining a club like this was going to put a target on my back. It hadn't turned out that way, though. I'd found a few people to sit by in the dining hall, and even a couple of boys worth a few dates and dance club make outs. It hadn't ended up getting me bullied or made fun of in class. Then again I was a male fashion design major. I'm pretty sure that most people upon hearing that just assumed that I must be queer.

The first of the freshmen approached our table, and I put on my public face. The one that hid the inner ice behind the mask of a welcoming smile. "Hi! I'm Kurt, and this is Santana. Are you interested in joining PRIDE Kent?"

I spent the evening talking up the club and passing out little packets of Skittles. Several dorm residents stopped by to talk. I had to elbow Santana in the side a few times to keep her flirting in check. Seriously? This wasn't the time to pick up women. She'd have a whole school year for that. Or hopefully to find one interesting enough to date long term. I'd love to see her find someone to settle down with. She and Brittany had a good run in high school, and I thought that Santana was much nicer, or maybe just more settled and happier, when she was in a relationship. It'd be to both our benefit for her to find someone to actually date and not just fuck around with.

I'd just said goodbye to a classmate when a pair of familiar faces approached our table. Once again Blaine and Jess were together. Interesting. I couldn't tell if there was a friendship developing between the two or if it was developing into something more.

I didn't even have to fake my smile over at either of them. I liked them both. They were among the nicer of my new residents, even if Jess was almost painfully shy. Maybe making friends with Blaine would help her out in that regard, or at least with the homesickness. "Jess, Blaine, it's good to see you. This is my, um, friend, Santana."

"Watch it, Hummel. You'd better call me your friend or there will be consequences. Do you want to have to deal with consequences?" She mock threatened before she turned to give a look over the two freshmen. Her eyes fixed on Blaine's bowtie for a moment before she grabbed up a couple bags of Skittles. "So. Either of you two interested in joining, or did you just come to talk to your goody two-shoes here and get candy? Taste the Rainbow?"

Blaine coughed, trying to cover a laugh, and I shook my head. "Santana, be nice. So, did the two of you find any activities you're interested in?"

Blaine spoke up for both of them, a fact that didn't really surprise me. "We did. I think that we're going to join a Doctor Who themed club together, right Jess?" She nodded in response as Blaine continued. "But we're going to give the Kent State Cowbell Club a pass. Why in the world does the college have a cowbell club?"

"I didn't even realize that it did." I said with a shake of my head. "That is a little bit crazy."

"Right? I think I might try out for an acappella group as well, but Wes had already convinced me of that. What was the one you found, Jess?" Blaine prompted with a smile at the quieter girl.

"There's a women in science and engineering group that I might join." She said.

"Right. And then I was also thinking about joining PRIDE Kent." Blaine said smiling over to Santana. "I didn't just come over for the Skittles, though I do appreciate a good tie in."

Well, that made it somewhat less likely that there was something more than friendship growing between Jess and Blaine. It was good news for those of us, namely me, that thought that Blaine was unfairly cute in a Gene Kelly-esque way. I tried to use my good welcomer mask that I'd had on all night to hide my inner elation at the news that Blaine swung my way. Santana would never let me hear the end of it for one thing. "Great! Did you have any questions?"

 

 

* * *

 

 

Class had only been in session for two weeks when Simon knocked on my door one evening. I was in the middle of writing a paper for my fashion merchandising class, but I called out 'Come in!' anyway.

"I can't deal with this anymore." Simon stated as soon as he'd opened the door.

I sat up straighter in my chair. I'll admit that I was more than a little bit surprised by that opener. "You can't deal with what?" He wasn't being very specific after all. I have no idea how I was supposed to read his mind. Occasionally I thought that Santana might have that skill, but it wasn't one I possessed. (And I secretly suspected that she was more of a snoop than a mind reader.)

"Blaine." Simon stepped inside letting the door shut behind him. "I can't deal with him anymore. He's driving me insane."

I gestured toward my extra desk chair, inviting Simon to sit. It didn't seem like this was going to be one of those 'I have a quick question' moments. It seemed more like something that was going to make me have to earn my keep. "What's going on?" I asked, trying to dredge back up in my memory the training we'd had on navigating roommate squabbles.

“He’s just so _loud._ ” Simon complained. “And he sings all the fracking time. Yesterday I came back to our room, and he was dancing on top of his bed!”

I nodded my head, because it at least had to look like I was listening to his problems. “Did you ask him to stop?”

“No! Because he tried to get me to join in before I had the chance. I _do not_ sing. So I just grabbed my laptop and took it to the library. I had work to get done.” Simon let out a grumpy huff.

I secretly wanted to tell him that maybe he should have just given in. Maybe a little music would have lifted his spirits. That didn’t seem like the right thing to say though, so instead I tried, “Have you sat down and talked to him about his noise levels? Maybe he doesn’t realize that his singing is bothering you.” There. That sounded like something we were supposed to say.

“No. I mean we talked about not waking each other up the first week.” Simon shook his head. “I guess I could try that.”

“Perfect. Let me know how it goes.” I really did want to pat myself on the back. This job wasn’t going to be so bad.

* * *

 

I stopped in the middle of hunting through the front pocket of my messenger bag for my keys on the way back from the class to listen more intently to the sound coming from around the corner. That _was_ crying. I slid my bag down to let it slump against my door. No one was going to walk off with it, not in this dorm. And if they did all they’d get was my sketchbook and a textbook or two.

As I rounded the corner, I was surprised to see that it was Blaine I had been hearing. He wouldn’t have been my first choice for someone who would be sobbing in the hallway. Jess, maybe, but not Blaine.

I slid down the wall to sit next to him on the questionable dorm carpet. “You alright?” I realized how stupid that question was as soon as I said it. He was sitting in a public place with tears streaming down his face. Of course he wasn’t alright.

“I’m fine.” Blaine used the heel of his hands to try to wipe away all evidence of his tears. It was a pretty miserable failure. One glance over at my must have shown just how little I believed that lie, because Blaine changed his tune. “Alright, I’m not fine, but it’s silly. Nothing really bad happened, I’m just- I should have gone to cry in the shower or something.”

“That would have been easier to hide.” I agreed, trying once again not to picture Blaine naked with water streaming down his body. This was definitely not the moment for that. “Do you want to talk about it?” When Blaine hesitated at that offer, I suggested instead, “Or we could go watch bootlegged musicals on my laptop and forget about it for awhile.”

“That- that sounds like it might be really good.” Blaine gave me a watery smile. “I might be roped into the second option.”

I pushed off the wall to stand, offering a hand back down to Blaine. “Singing along is always highly encouraged when watching musicals in my presence, just so you know. I definitely plan to sing, so it would be horrible to leave me singing alone.”

After what Simon had said about Blaine’s habit of singing constantly in their room, I wasn’t surprised to see that get a bigger smile from the freshman. “Deal.”

* * *

 

_Book of Mormon_ had seemed like a good choice for getting Blaine into a better mood. It did turn the tears into laughter at least. I shut my laptop as the actors came forward to take a bow and stretched my arms up over my head. I could vertebra of my spine protest sitting in the same position for so long, even if other parts of my anatomy were grateful to be sharing space with Blaine. We’d set up our viewing zone on my bed. I had a body pillow that came in handy for turning the space into a couch. And of course, my laptop wasn’t big enough for the two of us to sit too far apart. Perfection.

I turned to sneak a glance over at Blaine. Now that the Broadway bootleg had wound down, I hoped that he wouldn’t be starting the waterworks again. Good. His smile might not be quite so bright, but he didn’t look like he was going to burst into more tears in the immediate future. Despite, or maybe because of, the amount of tears I had more intimate experience with, I wasn’t a big fan of dealing with crying people.

“That never fails to make me laugh.” Blaine admitted, breaking the silence. He pulled his phone from his pocket to check the time. “Wow. I didn’t realize how late it was getting.”

I leaned into his space just a little bit to peek over. “I guess that’s what a good show does to you. Thanks for not making me sing alone, even if I never plan to be a Mormon, especially one who just believes.”

Blaine shook his head with a laugh. “I didn’t expect you to go down the path of converting, but it was nice to have someone to sing along with. Jess isn’t a big musical buff, and Simon- apparently Simon isn’t a big fan of anything I do.”

“Did you two get into a fight?” I asked. I was going to have to be careful with this. I didn’t really want to tell Blaine that Simon had been to me to complain, not if I could avoid it.

“Maybe?” Blaine shrugged with a rather confused look on his face. “But doesn’t a fight have to have two participants?”

“Usually. Though I’ve been known to have knock down drag out brawls with myself on occasion.” I didn’t bother to keep the dryness from my tone there. It was probably better that Blaine thought that I was joking than that I needed the mental ward.

He cracked a smile for a second before his head flopped back against the wall with a sigh. “Well, I don’t think this was as much a fight as an opportunity for Simon to make a list of all the reasons he doesn’t like me. Apparently, I’m a horrible roommate and maybe a worthless human being.”

“Ouch.” I winced. It didn’t sound like Simon had taken my advice to have a talk with Blaine in quite the way I’d intended it. “That’s kind of harsh. He didn’t say it like that, did he?”

“Pretty much.” Blaine pulled his knees up to his chest. “I mean, he might not have said the words ‘worthless human being’ but they were implied.”

That left me in a bit of a tricky situation. I had no real idea of what exactly Simon had said to leave Blaine with that impression. Was it a case of Simon being really rude or Blaine overreacting? Some of both? “I’m sorry he made you feel that way.” That was safe middle ground, right?

“It wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t someone that I have to go back and live with.” Blaine glanced over at me, with big sad eyes. That expression was pretty much unfair. “I’ve been called worse, but I always had the ability to escape by going home before.”

I nodded. “Maybe you can find a place on campus to be your spot whenever and why-ever you need to escape.” I suggested. “And you’re always welcome here. That doesn’t solve the bigger problem though, does it?”

Blaine shook his head. “That would help, I guess, but I don’t want to spend the whole school year feeling like I can’t go back into my dorm room.”

I took a moment to rack my brain. This was totally something I was supposed to be able to fix, right? This was my job. “Um… why don’t the two of you sit down with me, and maybe it’d help to talk it out with a third party. We could… we could write up a roommate contract.”

Blaine flashed me a grateful smile. “I don’t know if it would help, but it couldn’t hurt to try, right?”

* * *

 

 

I woke up Saturday morning to a loud crash against the wall of my room. “Jess! You’re burning up!”

I rubbed my hands over my eyes, grabbing my phone from my bed beside me to check the time. 9:17. Ugh. My plans for this morning had involved sleeping in after I’d had the late shift of rounds last night. I’d been stuck walking through all the dorms on this side of campus with another RA I barely knew making sure that no one had lit anything on fire and no one was killing themselves through alcohol poisoning. Otherwise known as the exact way I wanted to spend my Friday night, and the best set of circumstances to put me in a good mood on a Saturday morning.

I considered just ignoring it and putting my pillow over my head to drown out the laughter, but then I heard Dan, one of the seniors, call out, “You can make that jump, Blaine! One, two…”

I stomped open to throw my door open right as he called out ‘three!’. I knew my hair was probably sticking up ten thousand different ways and that the yoga pants and tank top I’d worn to bed probably weren’t my most authoritative look, but oh well. “What the hell are you all up to?”

Blaine looked up at me from the chair he’d just jumped onto with wide eyes. “Kurt! We- uh, you should read the note.”

“What note?” I shook my head, trying to clear away the last bits of sleep fuzz from my brain.

“Don’t you have one on your message board?” Dan asked from where he was sitting on top of a big floor pillow.

“The floor is lava. Don’t burn up.” I read it out loud and then stared down the hallway once more. Every foot or two, some kind of furniture was placed. Floor pillows, chairs that looked suspiciously like the ones from our floor study and meeting room, even an entire futon. “Did everyone get this?”

“I don’t have a message board.” Jess piped up from where she was standing on top of the futon. “But there was a post-it note stuck to my door instead.”

“Relax, Kurt.” Blaine said, jumping over to the next chair in the line. “It’s just a game. Let us have our fun.”

“It’s all fun and games until you wake the RA.” Dan muttered under his breath.

I shot an icy glare over at him. “How about, it’s all fun and games until someone falls and breaks their arm or a dorm chair. Then what?”

“Uhhh…” Dan had no further words for this. “I guess that would be bad.”

“How about you get your friends to help you clean this up, and I pretend that this was all a dream.” I recognized exactly whose room that futon had come from. “I’m going back to bed.” I swung my arms wildly around me. “Begone, lava. I order you away.”

* * *

 

“Why didn’t I choose to be the RA for a normal dorm?” I grumbled as I slid into the dining hall chair across from Wes.

“Well, good day to you as well, Kurt.” Wes smiled over at me from across his lunch tray. “Did you try the grilled cheese today? Particularly cheesy.”

I tilted my head as I stared at him, contemplating the possibility that Wes had finally actually lost his mind. No, he was just toying with me. “That’s because the lunch lady has a huge crush on you, and added an extra slice of cheese to yours.”

Wes sniffed. “Do you think so? Maybe I’ll have to slip her my number.” I smirked back over, since we both knew he’d do nothing of the kind. Not only was Wes faithful to his girlfriend, the woman working at the grill today was at least 65. “So, what are your little miscreants up to now?”

“You know, on a normal dorm floor, the RA just has to deal with hangovers and possibly people puking in the corners on a Saturday morning. But no. I had to work in the Honors Dorm, where my residents were jumping around on the furniture this morning because someone told them that the floor had turned into lava.” I made a face over at Wes for his snickering. “It’s not funny. They were crashing into the walls. What if one of them had become concussed?”

“They’d learn not to jump on the furniture?” Wes responded with a big grin. “Please tell me you took a picture before you made them clean it up.”

I shook my head. “I did not. I magically made the lava disappear and went back to my damn bed. They woke me up.”

“And no one should be disturbing Hummel’s beauty sleep.” Wes drawled, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He flipped through pictures for a moment before he passed it over to me.

I finally cracked a smile at the picture. A slightly younger Blaine caught in the middle of some crazy dance move, standing on a sofa. “So, this isn’t a new thing for Blaine?”

“The lava, maybe, but not the jumping on furniture.” Wes shook his head. “I’d have made them stop, too, though. Because someone could break their fool arm.”

“That’s what I told them.” I didn’t waste too much though on how scary it might be that I was starting to see rule breaking the same way Wes did. “They’re lucky I didn’t write them a citation.”

“It would have made Residence Life’s day to read that.” Wes shook his head. “At least the engineering students didn’t create a mass domino line down the whole stairwell again. My freshman year, someone turned the elevator into a sitting room. That was actually quite comfortable until the RA made them put it all back.”

“In other words, it’s not just my floor?”

“It’s not just your floor. How are things going otherwise?” Wes looked like he genuinely wanted to know.

“I’m sitting down to de-escalate a roommate situation tomorrow.” I sighed. “I think my earlier advice made it worse, so I’m hoping that this goes smoother.”

“Who? What happened?” Wes asked as he ripped a piece off his grilled cheese, dipping it into a bowl of tomato soup. I did have to admit that his lunch looked better than my own. My hopes for a good quiche at weekend brunches were always much higher than the reality.

I was also hesitating about the fact that it might not actually be good form to talk to Wes about this. He was an old friend of Blaine’s after all. “Is there like a RA code? Where we can talk about any of our residents without worrying that it will get back to them?”

Wes raised his right into the air. “I solemnly swear that anything you talk to me about right now will not leave the dining hall.”

I cracked a smile. Wes had this whole officious air about him that just made that look like he was holding court in the middle of the cluster of worn wooden tables and hungover frat boys. “It’s Blaine and Simon. I think the two are just oil and water.”

“Blaine? Huh. That’s why you asked about discretion?” I nodded in response, and Wes continued. “I promise I won’t tell him we talked about this. I guess I can see that those two are not exactly kindred spirits.”

“I wasn’t exactly a kindred spirit with Seth last year either, but we managed to co-exist.” I couldn’t help but point out as I stabbed my quiche emphatically with my fork. “Anyway, Simon came to me for advice because apparently Blaine had been getting on his nerves. Singing all the time, dancing around their room, that sort of thing. Nothing that seemed that bad, so I told him that he should just sit down and talk about it with Blaine.”

“Has Blaine been dancing on the furniture again?” Wes asked with amusement coloring his tone. “We used to tease him all the time about doing that Dalton. That was much nicer furniture, too, than the virtually indestructible dorm variety we have around here.” Wes paused for a moment to stir his soup. “Well, I can’t say that I would have handled that any differently. I’ve given the same advice. ‘Have you told your roommate that it bothers you?’ But I take it the story doesn’t end there?”

I shook my head. “It does not indeed. Although, I do have to admit that I did rather enjoy the picture of Blaine dressed in a prep school uniform dancing on the furniture.”

“I’ll have to see if I any videos.” Wes offered with a considering look. Great, all I’d need was for him to figure out that I had a growing crush on a certain freshman.

I powered ahead. Maybe it would distract him from those thoughts. “Anyway, the story does not end there. I came back from class yesterday afternoon to find that Blaine was sitting out in the hallway crying.”

“That’s never good.”

“Right? So I brought Blaine over to my room to calm down. After a couple of hours of singing along to musicals, he told me that Simon had said some things that made him feel like a horrible roommate and person, in general.” I rested my head on my hand with a sigh. “Apparently when I told Simon to go back and talk to Blaine about what was bothering him, it instead turned into Simon telling Blaine all the things he doesn’t like about him.”

“Ouch.” Wes paused for a moment, eying me consideringly again. “I won’t tell you things that are Blaine’s business to share with people when and if he wants to, but I will say that Blaine is particularly sensitive to people’s opinion of him. He wants to be liked.”

“Don’t we all?” I asked automatically, but really, that was just not totally true. There were definitely times where I’d valued individuality or being right over being liked.

“Not to the extent that Blaine does,” Wes replied. “If he let down his barriers enough to cry, then whatever Simon said really hurt him. So you’re sitting down to talk to the two of them tomorrow?”

I nodded. “I thought maybe we could create a written roommate contract. Maybe it would help both of them to have some things spelled out.”

“Hopefully that will work, otherwise you might want to let both of them know that they have the option of asking Residence Life to switch their room placement,” Wes said. “Now, do you want to hear what I busted a guy for last week?”

* * *

 

I paused outside their door, listening first to hear what might be going inside like a total creeper, but I didn’t even hear a whisper. This was the time we’d agreed on, right? I pulled back to knock.

They were apparently there, because I heard rustling from inside. A moment later, Simon pulled the door open. “Kurt. Come on in.”

“You can sit at my desk.” Blaine offered from where he was sitting cross legged on a neatly made bed. In fact, the whole room was neat. Desks, beds, dressers, all of it seemed to be perfectly arranged.

“That sounds great. I brought my computer so that we can type up what we decided on, make it official.” I took the offered seat and slipped my messenger bag off my shoulder.

Simon nodded at that suggested. “That sounds fitting.” He said, perching back on the edge of the other wooden chair.

I glanced between the two of them for a moment before I dove right in. “Alright, we all know what the purpose of this meeting is, right? To have a productive discussion about how both you like to live and to set up some guidelines for sharing space.”

Blaine grabbed his pillow from behind him, hugging it to his chest. “Right. I- I just want the two of us to be able to get along, Simon.”

Simon turned to face me. “So we get to set up rules? What happens if we don’t agree on them.”

“If you don’t agree on it, then we can talk it through and see why, maybe come to a compromise.” I kind of wanted to punch the little smirk he had off his face. The only problem with that was that I’d probably break my hand if I tried. And it might just be my bias toward Blaine because of the developing crush of massive proportions. And it would likely cost me this job. Alright, so there were a lot of problems with that desire. I was just going to rely on my theater experience and play the role of nice RA.

Simon considered that for a moment before he nodded, “I suppose that could work.”

“Well, let’s start with the basics. You both like to keep the room neat?” I asked, with a glance back at the perfectly neat desk my laptop sat on.

Simon nodded. “Clutter is a distraction from the work. I have too many things to do to spend time dealing with messes. Better to keep everything in it’s proper place when it’s not being used.”

Blaine nodded at that. He glanced at me for a moment, hesitating as he bit his bottom lip. “I like things to be neat, but sometimes I’m really worried about making any kind of mess in here. I don’t want a mess, but I don’t want to feel bad because I left a textbook open on my desk.” He turned to look over at Simon. “Maybe we can make a deal that as long as we aren’t messy, we don’t clean up for the other person? A little clutter can be okay?”

Simon sighed. “But if you don’t put your book back in the proper place in your pile, how can you be prepared for classes the next day?”

“If it takes me an extra minute to pack my backpack, isn’t that my own problem?” Blaine asked in return.

I jumped in before Simon could reply to that. “Okay. That sounds reasonable. You’ll both agree to be neat, but not perfect. In return, you’ll also agree not to clean up other people’s things.”

“What if he leaves something in the middle of the floor? Would I be expected to just walk around it?” Simon asked with what looked to me like a sneer over at Blaine. Maybe things were worse than I thought. Because I don’t think I was just reading the dislike into Simon’s tone.

“Of course not.” Blaine hugged the pillow tighter against his chest. “Things in someone else’s way could be an exception. But when have I ever left things all over the floor?”

Simon just shrugged, and I just resisted the urge to make a particularly biting comment in return. “Alright, let me type that in as rule number one. Can we discuss noise for the next one? I know that was one things you mentioned as a concern, Simon.”

Simon nodded his head, “I don’t like it when you’re singing in here, Blaine. I want to be able to concentrate and work.”

Blaine sagged his head onto the pillow he was cuddling. “Music is a big part of my life. How about you ask me to stop when you want to concentrate, and I agree that I’ll respect that. Honestly, until Friday, I had no idea that the fact that I tend to sing along to songs while I work was bothering you.You really just had to ask.”

Simon considered that for a moment. “I suppose so, since I guess it would probably be too much to ask to say that no singing is allowed in the room period.”

When Simon glanced over to me at that, I nodded emphatically back. I was getting the feeling that this was going to end up being a long and probably pointless meeting.

* * *

 

The next weekend found me with Saturday night rounds, my least favorite. At least I had Wes to go through this particular bout of misery with me instead of a virtual stranger.

“This was not quite how I imagined this part of the job going.” I sighed as I stuck a stack of written citations for a group of eighteen year olds we’d caught hauling beer back to their room into my bag.

“How did you imagine it?” Wes asked with curiosity as he shot a warning look to a guy stumbling down the hallway. “Hey! If you have to puke, do it in your sink or the toilet.”

“I’m not sure I imagined this particular aspect at all.” I waved my hand off toward the drunk frat boy type who had at least made it to the bathroom door. “Or thought about the fact that I’d have responsibilities for dorms other than my own. I’m suddenly feeling very glad to be assigned to one of the Honor’s dorms. All of this makes turning the hallway into hot lava not seem quite so annoying.”

“Oh, you just wait. I promise that there will be at least one nerd party this year that will get out of hand. You know as well as I do that people in our dorms drink.” Wes opened the door to the stairwell, letting me through first.

“But they usually have enough brain cells not to be complete idiots about it.” I buttoned my jacket shut as we walked down the stairs. The October air had a good chill to it by this time of night.

 Wes used his shoulder to open the outside door as he tugged his gloves on. “Sometimes. Sometimes I think that smart people actually act dumber when they really choose to let go.” Wes sighed when he saw who was coming across the open space toward Johnson Hall. “Case in point.”

“Santana. Have you been busy corrupting the freshmen?” I called over, watching her try to steer an obviously drunk Blaine as Jess trailed a step or two behind.

Santana stopped in her tracks and I had to hold back laughter as Blaine tried to keep walking and collided with Santana’s shoulder. That only increased the intensity of the glare Santana was sending my way. “Hell, no. I’m acting as their savior, Hummel. Neither one of them is exactly the kind of Freshman that _I_ want to corrupt.” She turned to give the rather meek Jess a look over. “Well, maybe you.”

Wes piped in, “Well, you do rather have the reputation to match that assumption.”

“Can it, Rule Boy.” Santana shoved Blaine my way as I caught up to her. “They were way in over their heads at Williamson’s party. I thought I’d get them back here before someone took advantage of the gel head here. I know you’d hate it if someone else took that opportunity before you got the chance. See? Totally doing you a favor.”

I wrapped an arm around Blaine’s waist as he sagged up against me. “Sure, Santana. Thank you for walking them home.” I wasn’t even going to get into it with her about me wanting to take advantage of Blaine. Because I didn’t, not like _that,_ but it wasn’t worth the breath to try to convince Santana of that.

Wes raised his eyebrows over at me, and I just shook my head in reply. We could have that conversation when we weren’t standing outside on a chilly evening with a drunken Blaine hanging off of me. “How you doing, Jess?”

Jess had wrapped her arms tightly around her waist, staring between all of us with wide eyes. I had not idea how much she’d had to drink, but if anything, she seemed more shut down than normal. “Fine. I- I’m fine.”

Wes must have caught her longing look at the front door because he took her arm, moving ahead to lead her inside, leaving me to deal with Santana, the coward.

“Well, thank you again for getting them home, Santana. I can get him from here into his bed-”

“Wanky.” Santana interrupted with a waggle of her eyebrows.

“-to sleep it off.” I finished with a sneer right back.

“Whatever. Well, my good deed for the night is done.” She waved as she turned to stride away, calling back over her shoulder. “Now to see if the beautiful brunette is still there. Wish me luck!”

I shook my head with a mixture of dismay and laughter, nothing new for interactions with Santana. “Let’s get you inside.” I wrapped an arm tighter around Blaine as I steered him toward the door. He was rather pliable at the moment, willing to just drape his body against mine. I wrinkled up my nose as I caught a whiff of his breath. “You smell like a distillery. Just how much did you have to drink?”

Blaine ignored the question, pressing his head in against my neck. “You smell good.”

“Thank you. You, mister, are drunk.” Jess and Wes were already out of sight, so I steered him over toward the elevator as soon as we got inside. I usually took the stairs, better for maintaining a great butt. With Blaine hanging off my shoulder, the elevator seemed like the better choice, though.

“But you still smell good.” He tucked his nose in against the skin exposed by the collar of my jacket. “Not just tonight. Always. You always smell so nice. And look so nice. I like looking at you.”

“MmmHmm.” I tried not to take it all too seriously. It was pretty obvious that holding his liquor was not one of Blaine’s strong suits.

Getting through the elevator ride and up the hallway to Blaine’s room was rather like being attacked by an overly affectionate leech. At one point I tried pushing him off to lean on the elevator wall, but he just wrapped his arms more tightly around me with such big puppy dog eyes that I couldn’t force myself to be mean.

The light was still under Blaine’s door, so I knocked, rather than trying to locate Blaine’s keys or my master.

Simon pulled the door open with a rather disgruntled look on his face as soon as he saw the two of us. “Oh God.”

“Nope. Just me.” I didn’t bother to keep the sass down as I drug Blaine in. I finally disconnected Blaine’s arms from around my neck to push him down onto his narrow bed.

“What an idiot.” I could hear Simon mutter under his breath as he moved back to sit at his desk. His laptop was open to a screen full of lines of code. I chose to believe that he was talking about Blaine, who had rather been an idiot to get himself into this situation.

Since Simon seemed intent on ignoring us, I leaned down to pull off Blaine’s shoes, tucking them up against the underside of the bed. After a moment’s hesitation, I reached over to unbutton his pants.

I swear that Simon must have eyes in the back of his head. I’d been certain he was too involved in his coding to care about what I was doing, but the moment I started to try to peel Blaine’s pants down over his ass, Simon piped up, “What’re you doing? I’m _in_ the room.”

I huffed out a breath in annoyance. “Putting Blaine to bed. Someone has to do it. It’s not like we’re about to- uh do anything. But there’s no way sleeping in pants _this_  tight is at all comfortable.”

Blaine let out a giggle at that, leaning forward to rest his forehead on my shoulder. I think he was trying to whisper, but it definitely didn’t come out that quietly. “You can take my pants off anytime.”

I ignored whatever Simon was grumbling as I stifled a laugh. “Oh, really? I see what Santana meant about getting you home before someone took advantage of you.” I yanked his pants down off his ankles, and turned to drape them over his desk chair as I did my very best to ignore just how good his ass, thighs, everything, looked in that pair of boxer briefs.

“Only you.” Blaine mumbled reaching out to grab my arm. When he tried to pull me into bed with him, I darted away.

“Alright, Blaine. Get yourself under the covers and sleep this off.” I backed away from the bed. His sweater looked soft enough to sleep in and undressing him anymore seemed like a bad idea at this point. “I’m just going to go find Wes and finish rounds before you do anything you’ll regret in the morning.”

Blaine’s reply was muffled into his pillow, so I slid out with one last look back at Simon. He didn’t say goodbye, so I didn’t bother.

Wes was standing in the hallway outside with a smirk on his face. “Why do I think I got the easier part of that deal?”

“I think we all have it easier than Blaine’s going to with the headache he’ll have in the morning.” I pointed out as I fell back into step beside him.

“Are we going to write them up?” Even Wes the lover of rules looked torn on that.

“How about you settle for a lecture this time? The dangers of underage drinking and all that?” I suggested.

“That would be a good first warning, I suppose,” Wes decided. “Let’s just finish off this floor while we’re here.”

* * *

 

 

BAM, BAM, BAM

I was right in the middle of half dozing off as I tried to read the absurdly boring history textbook that was required for a gen ed when someone started to pound on my dorm room door. I jumped up, literally, letting the textbook slam shut on my desk.

I yanked the door open only to find a red faced Blaine standing on the other side. I didn’t even get the chance to greet him before he started talking, almost too quickly for me to understand what he was saying. “Do you have a car? You do right? Or do you know someone with one? I don’t have one on campus and Jess doesn’t and Wes isn’t-“

I put a hand on his shoulder and made a shushing noise. “Take a couple of deep breaths with me. In. Out. In. Out.” When the manic look faded a bit from his eyes, I went on. “Alright. Now slow down a minute and add some details. What happened? And yes, I do have a car. Do you need me to take you somewhere?” I wasn’t about to offer the keys to my baby to Blaine at the moment, as shaken up as he was.

“We were goofing off in my room, and Jess tripped over the leg of my desk.” Blaine glanced back in the direction of his space. “I think she might have broken her wrist. She definitely needs to go get it x-rayed, but it’s not bad enough to call an ambulance.”

“So you want a ride to the hospital? Just give me a second. Is she still back at your room?” I kept up the conversation as I ducked back inside to grab my wallet and my keys.

“She is. I gave her the ice pack from my mini-fridge.” Blaine bounced on his toes as I locked my door.

“I took first aid. Let me take a look first and then we can go.” I set off down the hallway at a pace almost as fast as Blaine. Being full of energy was nothing unusual for him, but it was clear that adrenaline had added to his normal energy.

“Right. Sure. I took first aid at Dalton. That’s how I knew to ice it and get to the hospital.” Blaine offered as he swung his own door open. “It was part of our P.E. class.”

“Kurt. Blaine got you?” Jess was sitting cross legged on Blaine’s bed, an ice pack held to her left wrist. She had it cradled up against her chest, and the tightness to her face told me a lot about her current level of pain.

“He did. Do you have shoes in here?” Blaine rushed over to grab her canvas flats, helping Jess pull them on as I glanced at the clock. It was already after 9. The campus health office would be closed. There was no point in me messing around looking at Jess’s wrist. If she was in that kind of pain, it was probably best that we take her to a doctor, no matter what. This time of night, that meant the ER. “And your purse?” Blaine held that up as well. “Perfect. Let’s just get a move on it then. My car is parked in the lot right outside.”

“Thanks, Kurt.” Blaine piped back in. “I know that taking people to the hospital wasn’t what you planned to do tonight.”

I shrugged. If it had been residents I liked less, like Simon, I might have been rather more annoyed. But how could I be annoyed at Jess for tripping and falling? Well, maybe I would have been if I found out they’d been pretending there was lava again.

* * *

 

I leaned back against a sterile white countertop as I watched Blaine spin a chair around. After the rush of getting Jess to my car, the drive (while Blaine called her parents), and getting Jess checked in and then back to this tiny room, it just felt odd to have nothing to do now but wait.

I hadn’t meant to go past the waiting room, but Jess didn’t want to come back alone. Since Blaine looked at least as on edge to be in a hospital as I felt, I’d ended up here, stuck in a tiny exam room with Blaine while Jess was off getting x-rays. “So…” I tried to dredge up some kind of conversation, without too much luck.

Blaine stopped swinging the chair back and forth for a moment to look up at me. There was a tightness and tension around his eyes that I assumed was mimicked in my own. I’d hated hospitals ever since my mother had gotten sick. Experiences with my father in high school had only made it worse. Part of me really wanted to ask Blaine what had happened to make him this fidgety in one, but I resisted.

Thank God that Blaine came up with a topic. “So, I’ve always wondered, how did you end up deciding to become an RA?” He paused for a second with a forced smile. “If that’s not too personal. After all, Wes makes sense. He’d love any chance to impose order, and he really does like looking after people.”

“You think I don’t like those things?” I asked with what I hoped was humor.

Blaine shrugged, “Well, it’s not that I think you don’t, it’s just- Not like Wes. He’s always been like that, even when we were in high school, and it was a position on the Warbler Council.”

I turned a bit so that I could see the lights of the ambulance bay outside the tiny window. “It was actually a financial decision,” I admitted. “Not that I thought I’d hate the job or anything, but I became an RA to save money more than out of a desire to actually be one. Just don’t tell the committee that hired me that.”

Blaine laughed and put a hand to his chest. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”

“This is probably a bad place for that.” I pointed out with a dry tone. “I feel like college so far has been one big exercise in ‘what can I afford?’ Nothing has gone to plan, but so far this one has been working out. I may be stuck in Ohio now, but I won’t be forever, even if I have to go work at Starbucks and live with twelve roommates after college.”

“Twelve roommates. The ultimate sacrifice.” Blaine said with a playful of his nose. I was glad to see that at least the conversation seemed to have distracted him from his worry. “So what city are you going to be making lattes in?”

“Right?” I shifted position, trying to get the counter to stop biting into my hip. “New York. Any big city on the east coast would be better than this.” I waved my hand around the room, even though I hoped that Blaine knew that I meant all of Ohio, all of the MidWest even. “The dream is New York, though. The fashion department at Kent State has a semester program in the city. It’s not as good as getting to go to FIT or Parsons, but at least it’s a chance.”

Blaine nodded in understanding. “I wanted to go to college in New York. New York or L.A. I hardly dream of being an actor in Ohio forever, you know? But my father said no. He’d pay for me to go to college in New York if I’d study something ‘useful’, so I took the scholarship Kent State offered. But someday…”

I nodded my head, recognizing the kindred dream. “Someday. We’ll both get out of this state.”

“You’ll have to send me updates from New York, when you get there. Let me know all the wonderful parts so I can daydream between scenes of whatever play the theater department chooses to put on.” Blaine spun his chair in one more full circle before he planted his feet flat on the floor. “Thank you for bringing us tonight. I know that It’s probably not really part of your job duties.”

“Wes would say it is. Whenever I point out that something wasn’t in our contract, his reply is always the same.” I paused to stand up a bit taller mimicking Wes' tone. “Didn’t you read the last line, Kurt? ‘Other Duties as Assigned’ covers anything that they ask us to do.” Blaine’s bright laughter at that impersonation brought a smile to my face as well. “Besides, I’d do the same thing for any of my friends, job or not.”

* * *

 

My last class of the day on Tuesdays didn’t finish until 4:30. By the time I’d made my way back across campus, I was already starting to think about what the dining hall might be serving for dinner. Was it too much to hope for that there would at least be a decent dessert?

I pushed thoughts of dinner out of my head as I spotted Blaine knocking on my door. I walked as quietly as I could up behind to lean close and just whisper, “Looking for someone?”

The laughter died in my throat, and I even regretted making Blaine jump when I saw the look on his face. He looked like someone had kicked his puppy. Or that he was the puppy that got kicked.

“What’s wrong?” I asked before he even had the chance to speak. I fished my keys out of my pocket to open the door as he answered.

“What’s the process for changing roommates?” He answered my question with another one. I’d say he was trying to deflect, but the question in itself was a kind of answer to mine.

“There’s paperwork that you have to fill out and turn into Residence Life. I’ve got a copy in one of my binders, I’m pretty sure.” I pushed the door open, letting Blaine go in first before I followed him. “What did Simon do this time?”

“I can put up with a lot of things. I get that we’re different people.” Blaine sank down into the chair of the desk my sewing machine was set up on. “But not this. I finally figured out why Simon hates me so much. And it’s not singing or leaving books on my desk or anything else I can change. So I need out.”

I nodded, letting Blaine talk as I scanned my bookshelf for the two binders full of Residence Life forms that had made a home amid novels and books on fashion design. When Blaine fell silent I prompted simply, “Oh?”

That was enough to get Blaine to continue. He slumped down into the chair, rubbing at his temples. “He told me to stop acting like such a fag all the time.”

I stopped in my tracks. “He said that straight out?”

Blaine nodded. “It’s not the first time I’ve been called a - that. But I wasn’t expecting it in my own room, you know?” He pressed his fingers into his temple. “Maybe I should have gone to college in New York or L.A. and just worked five jobs to make ends meet.”

“We can’t go back in time and remake those choices.” I flipped through the binder until I got to the right section. “We can only deal with what we have now. And the first step in that is to find you a roommate that’s not homophobic.”

Blaine glanced down at the form in front of him. “What’s the next one?”

I grabbed a bottle of water from my mini-fridge and the ibuprofen bottle off my desk, sliding them both in front of Blaine. His body language just screamed of a headache. Not a surprise with all of this stress. “The next step? To make sure that the rest of your time here is fabulous.”

Blaine muttered his thanks for the water. My intuition on the headache proved out as he dumped dumped two pills into his palm. “That sounds like a good plan.”

“Doesn’t it? If you get that form filled out tonight, I’ll take it to turn in before classes in the morning.” I glanced over at my extra bed, the one that only functioned as a couch. “And in the meantime, you’re welcome to my extra bed.Unless you’d rather go bug Wes about his.”

* * *

 

I took the forms in myself the next morning before my first class. I was hoping that taking a moment to explain Blaine’s situation would speed matters up a bit. It had been accepted with sympathy instead of disgust at least. That seemed like a positive step.

It wasn’t that I minded Blaine camping out on my extra bed. In fact, I probably didn’t mind that a little bit too much. I wish so much that I knew if the feeling was mutual. How did I get to be this bad at reading men? Oh yeah, probably the entire lack of experience.

It was two more days before I left class to find a voicemail from Residence Life.

“Hey Kurt, it’s Marie. Tell the freshman on your floor to check his email. I found a potential slot for him. If he’d willing to move out of the Honor’s Dorms, I found him a room in Manchester. Have him read the info and let me know. Talk to you soon.”

I tapped over to my saved phone numbers. Blaine’s had long since found it’s way onto that list.

“Kurt?” Blaine answered the phone on the second ring.

“That would be me. Have you checked your email recently?” I asked as I pushed the door to the hall open stepping into the brisk Fall air outside the English building.

“No, I was working on a paper.” Blaine said in a hushed tone. “I’m in the library.”

“I’ll come join you.” I decided hastily. The last thing Blaine needed now was to get in trouble because he was on his phone in the library. “Check your email.”

“Yes, sir.” Blaine replied dryly. I suppose that did come out rather more like a command than I meant it to be. “I’m in the history stacks on the second floor. I’ll see you soon.”

* * *

 

“I got a new roommate?” Blaine asked even before I had a chance to take a seat across from him. He’d taken over a table back in one isolated corner of the library. It was lucky that he’d told me where to find him, because I’d never have expected him to be here, buried behind tall shelves of dusty books.

“Sounds like it. You don’t mind moving out of Johnson?” I asked.

“Having them find me a new roommate in our building sounded too good to be true. I think that I expected this.” Blaine turned his laptop so that I could see the email open on the screen. “While I would have loved to stay close to y- Jess, getting out of this current situation seems more important.”

My heart skipped a beat at that bit of hesitation. Was Blaine going to say he wanted to be close to me? I tried not to get my hopes up. That could just be him seeing me as a friend. I was letting him crash on my extra bed after all. I forced myself to take a moment to read over the email Res LIfe had sent Blaine, giving me time to tamper down my enthusiasm.

“Micah? Ooh. He’s a Music Ed major. That seems rather more like someone who join in on sing alongs than freak out that you’re singing.” I pointed out as I tilted the monitor back.

“As long as he’s not homophobic, we’ll be able to work out the rest.” Blaine sounded more relaxed than I’d heard him lately. I was glad that this news seemed to have taken a big weight off his shoulders.

“Why would he choose any Music based major if he was? That’s kind of like being homophobic and choosing to major in fashion design.” I pointed out. “Not every male fashion design major is gay, but they definitely know that they’re going to be working with plenty of people who are.”

Blaine nodded, giving me a soft smile, his head propped up on his hand.

After a moment of silence, I reached up to fluff my hair. “What? Do I have something in my teeth? A hair of out place?”

He shook his head with a laugh. “No. Just- Just thinking about how much I’ll miss seeing you.”

”I’ll miss seeing you, too, but it’s not like we’ll never see each other again. We’ll have to meet up for meals sometimes, even if it means hiking across campus. Plus, we’ll see each other at PRIDE Kent meetings.” I shook my head, reaching out to pat his hand. The gesture ended up feeling rather more awkward and less comforting than I meant it to be.

Blaine took a deep breath and reached out to grab my hand before I had the chance to pull it away. “What if I wanted to see you more than that? What if I wanted to take you to the movies on Friday? Or out to dinner? What if I want to share coffee and talk about our days?” He lifted his gaze to catch my reaction to that before he ventured, emboldened by the smile that must be slipping my face in two, “What if I wanted to spend evenings curled up together pretending to watch a movie while we really snuck kisses?”

Blaine had to hear my heart, it was pounding so hear in my chest. I knew that I was beaming over at him, not the snarky smile Santana got or the ice queen one that I turned on my fashion competitors, but a full out grin. “Then I’d think that you had really good ideas.” I turned my hand over to entwine my fingers with his. I really wanted to grab his face and plant a kiss on it, but even a deserted corner of the library seemed a little too public for that.

“So you’ll go out with me then? Friday night?” Blaine asked with the most hopeful expression I’d ever seen directed toward me in his eyes.

I managed to nod my head several times before I said. “Of course. You plan where and when. I’ll drive.”

“This has turned out to be a wonderful afternoon.” Blaine just beamed over as he talked. “Care to get dinner together to continue it?”

I stood, reluctantly pulling my hand away from Blaine’s. “Of course. Just don’t think that this counts as our first date. I expect to be wooed, Mr. Anderson.”

 

 


End file.
